Improvement in the manufacture of shoes



J. E. WHEELER.

. MANUFACTURE OF SHOES. .179,145 Patented. June 27.1876

NITNEESEE 1N\/EN UP J/TQM NPETERS. PHOWLITHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON. D. C

JOHN E. WHEELER, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179, 15, dated June 27, 1876; application filed b April 24, 1876.

To all whom at may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. WHEELER, of Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the lllanufacture of Shoes, of which the following is a specification Reference is had to the accompanying drawingin explaining the same, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective of a finished shoe;-

Fig. 2, a plan of the outsole, and Figs. 3, 4, 5, a-ndb are cross-sections.

in the construction of a boot or shoe by machinery, the outer soles are usually attached to the upper and insole by a seam which passes from the exterior of the outsole through the half-sole and upper, and into .or through the insole. As a consequence such a seam must be placed at some distance from the sole-edge, particularly it the outsole is broad or provided with a Scotch-edge. This construction renders the outsole extremely liable to separate from the welt or halfsole along its edge as the boot or shoe dries with age, and this tendency to crackis increased from the tension used in laying the seam, causing the outsole to spring away from the welt outside the line of the seam. It has also been impossible until lately to, unite the projecting edges of half-sole or welt and outsole by any continuous seam placed at or near their edge, and extending completely around the shoe from heel to heel, by machinery, and for this reason the edges have never been united except by hand or the Ballou wax-thread sewingmachine, in using which it is necessary to especially prepare the boot or shoe for the sewing.

To remedy this defect, growing out of the necessary construction when the seam unites the outsole to the insole, I unite mywelt or half-sole (or veneer, if preferred) B to the outsole A, before fastening to the insole D and upper (J, by a seam placed along their outer edge. I prefer to use a wax-thread seam for this purpose, although any of the customary sole-fastenings may be used, including cement, and place the stitch in a channel in the outsole,and display it on top the welt or half sole.

Having thus prepared my welt or wcltsole and outsole, I unite the same tothe upper and insole by any desirable medium of union,pre-

similar to that of one made by hand or by the Ba'llou process, and the practical result of the invention is like that ohtainedin a hand-made or Ballou shoe, it being the object of the invention to accomplish the uniting of theexposed edge of the welt or welt-sole to theoutsole in a simple and practical way to prevent cracking, and at the same time to permit of a union by a fastening that passes through the outsole into or through theinsole.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- The improvement in the process of manufacture of boots and shoes, consisting, first, in uniting the welt, welt'sole, half-sole,or veneer B to the outsole A, and then fastening them,

as then prepared, to the upper and insole, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN E. WHEELER. Witnesses:

GEO. W. COPELAND, F. F. RAYMOND. 

